Giving Credit Where Credit Is Due
In a recent blog post, Ann Barnhardt called out a couple Catholic media people for their public (on Twitter) dispute over who should be credited with content that was posted on Michael Voris’ ChurchMilitant.com (CM) that looked nearly identical to something previously posted at OnePeterFive.com (1P5). In Ann’s post, she related the story of Saint Adauctus, a martyr about whom little is known and made the point that we should perform our service to the Church without thought for recognition or remuneration.
Several things can be true at once (and in the spirit of giving credit: I got that line from Ben Shapiro):
- The highest motivation for us all should be that we reach souls and that the Truth is communicated.
- To deny rights of intellectual ownership of content and/or to specifically lift and copy the work of another without attribution is a violation of 10 to 20 percent of the Decalogue.
- Some people depend on patronage/ad revenue/sponsorship of their intellectual output; claiming their rights publicly could be more about keeping food on the table than being recognized personally.
Ann runs a frugal and efficient ship — not even a cat in her single woman’s apartment — and is very aggressive in pointing out Truth and making the case that we need to accept, believe, and live it. It’s a style that works for her and resonates for the kind of people who need the Gospel message to be renewed with a flamethrower, battle club, and a bullhorn. It cannot be denied that Ann’s no-nonsense, blue-collar style has disposed some people to respond to God’s call to enter the Catholic Church or recover from years of relapse.
However, to assert that her style should be emulated by all is unwise, and I’m not just referring to the tone but the terms by which she does it. According to Ann: “Do whatever you want with my writings: just get the message to as many people as possible.” She has no interest in asserting copyright, controlling distribution, or maximizing revenue/ad streams.
And this brings us to the aforementioned dispute Ann blasted in her piece: the use of content on Steve Skojec’s 1P5 without attribution on CM (and the ensuing twitter argument between Steve and CM’s Christine Niles). The question of intellectual property rights isn’t one to be taken lightly: the product of 1P5 is electronic media — text, video, and audio — for which revenue is raised through advertisement and direct donation support. And unlike Michael Voris, or Ann Barnhardt, Steve Skojec has a family and revenue from 1P5 helps to put food on his table. So if CM is taking content from Steve’s site without attribution or permission then they are unjustly depriving Steve’s site of traffic and ad revenue. (Personally, I think Steve should have served a DMCA take-down request to CM’s Los Angeles based web hosting provider… Steve is more tolerant than me).
Let me be clear: Team Voris is doing good and necessary work, just like many others in the Catholic world. Moreover, I don’t think anyone mentioned above is engaged in their personal brand of Catholic outreach for the purpose of building a cult of personality. But that doesn’t mean the workers aren’t worthy of their hire nor should they be (digitally) saying “Talk to the hand!” when disputes over content rights are raised. Let’s get this settled amicably and get back to job of taking the fight to the enemies of Truth and the Church instead of each other.
